The Dogs of War
by Barefoot XO
Summary: With the rise of the machines, humanity turns its trust back to man's best friend. Only they detect the enemies within. This is their story.


_**The Dogs of War**_

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I don't own The Terminator or Homeward Bound. They belong to James Cameron and Disney respectively.

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My name is Chance. You may have heard one of my stories before. A fair few years ago I went on a couple of incredible journeys with my closest friends, Shadow and Sassy. Both of those journeys ended well, with all of us making it home alive, despite a few close calls. The second even resulted in my meeting the love of my life… Delilah. She was beautiful. I really miss her.

After that our journeys were done and everything seemed really good. That happiness lasted all of a year or so. August 29th 1997. I normally don't take notice of human dates, but that one is etched into my mind like a scar that won't heal. That was what the humans call Judgment Day.

I was one of the lucky ones, Jamie and I were on an extended campout in Mexico. If we hadn't, we'd likely have joined Shadow, Sassy, Delilah and all the rest. They never had a chance. There's just a big hole where San Francisco used to be, and all of the surrounding area went with it. Including our families.

These days our home is in the ruins of Los Angeles. The city is in pretty rough shape, but it wasn't nuked. The machines apparently wanted the infrastructure or some such things. I wasn't really paying attention at the time.

My job description has changed a bit since the old days. I used to be on call to defend against the odd butterfly, maybe a big kid that wanted to pick on my human. These days they want me to pick out the machines. They look like humans, all right, but the ugly mugs can't fool my nose. It makes me feel useful.

Jamie is still my human, even after all this time. Not that he gets called that by anyone but me anymore. People always call him Seaver or Jim or James. I suppose its all a part of his growing up. Jamie was the name his mother called him, but then she's been gone for as long as Shadow has. I suppose he wants to forget the unpleasant things.

Me, I'm still Chance. I suppose the name is a testimony to my sheer luck in staying alive. I'm all that Jamie has left these days and I am not about to abandon him by letting myself die anytime soon. I suppose I'd better hope that chance continues to smile upon me.

You probably wonder why we're in L.A. Goodness knows we'd be smarter to hide away until these machine types are gone. The thing is that Jamie's joined the resistance, and I promised myself I wouldn't abandon the kid, so I followed him.

The lead human around these parts is a guy named John Connor. He's really a man with a plan. I can't begin to understand how the guy holds it together, but the humans, Jamie included, look to him like he's some kind of Messiah. I don't know if he's that good, but he's smart enough to trust us dogs, so I figure he's not all bad. My boss is a shepherd named Max II. John's his human. Apparently he was named for another Max that must have died. Max is kind of tough on us, but I've gotten used to him. He may not be up to Shadow or Riley's level, but he's a decent leader type . I've come to respect him a lot.

Here's Jamie now. I barely recognise him, he's gotten so big. I still remember him as the little boy he was when he first became my human. I was in big-time denial after a really bad experience at the pound. I'm glad I got over it. That's something I really owe Shadow for. I miss that old dog. Jamie though, he's all grown up now. He looks so calm and composed, lugging around one of those big human fire-sticks that they use. Sometimes I wish for the boy who used to slip me turkey under the table, but I know full well that he'd never have survived as that boy.

There's something itching at my nose. Could it be? Yes, it is! Jamie! Jamie! It's a terminator!

Bullets are flying and Jamie is ducking down next to me as he returns fire. I'd rather not be here right now, but I'd never forgive myself if I abandoned my human. I suppose that leaves me with just the one option. Stand my ground and help Jamie. Help Jamie like Max helps John and like Shadow would have helped Peter if they were still alive. I suppose that is the price we pay as the dogs of war…

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This is one of my quirkier crosses, but I like to think it works well.

Jasper


End file.
